Posted by Susan Culbertson Brighton on October 16, 2009:

My father, Alexander Brown Culbertson was a proud graduate of the United States Military Academy class of 1949. He served his country for over twenty years retiring after his last post at Andrews Air Force Base. My father was married to my mother, Susanne Stevens Culbertson for twenty-nine years until his death in 1984 following a hard fought battle with malignant melanoma. He was able to combine western medicine and his strong faith in the Christian Science teachings during this trying time. I suspect his fight against cancer rivaled the enemies he came up against on the battlefields of WWII and Korea. Unfortunately, he was not victorious against the cancer. My father was father to four children; David, Steven, Susan and Rebecca. We have a deep love and great respect for our father. He epitomized the philosophy of West Point; Duty, Honor, Country. He was respectful to all of our differences, expected the absolute best and did not tolerate critisism of others. He was pure love and had a wonderful sense of humor. Losing my father has affected me my entire life. I remember holding the bag of his personal belongings the hospital returned to us and thinking "is this all that's left?" Of course it wasn't. He left behind four children and six grandchildren (none of whom he ever met ) who know him and love him for all that he was and all that he loved. He loved his family, West Point and birds. He was a quite, gentle soul but an avid fan of race cars and boxing. He was a voracious reader and disliked TV. He loved our dog "Velvet" He would quietly laugh and his ears would turn red. His generosity extended to everyone he met. He loved to scare his daughters at night. When each of my children were born, I wrote them a "welcome to the world" letter and included in that letter information about their Grandfather Culbertson so they could get to know them. He would have been the BEST grandfather and so proud of all of his grandchildren. While his life was too short, I am grateful for my father's time with us. His kindness and quiet intellect permeats my life and those of my siblings. We talk about him frequently, laugh about his antics and feel the ever-present sadness that he is gone. To my father, Alexander Brown Culbertson, I love you, miss you and thank you for being such a great dad. Your daughter, Susan

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